


twenty six

by chadsuke



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/F, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-24 01:12:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18560902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chadsuke/pseuds/chadsuke
Summary: Prompt: Inokarin + overgrown.





	twenty six

It’s a day that Ino doesn’t really think about much – Mother’s Day. Why would she? _She’s_ not a mother, unless you count her _plants_ (which, okay, sometimes she does and she knows she’s not the only ninja that does that), and she has two dads (or, well, _had,_ though she still has one). There’s really no reason for her to think about it.

“I’m home,” Ino calls into the apartment, slipping off her sandals, and it’s only when she gets a little further in that she sees her girlfriend laying on the couch, staring up at the ceiling.

When Karin doesn’t even move to acknowledge her, Ino realizes that today must be a Bad Day.

She sighs quietly, moving to the kitchen to put the groceries away, and when she’s done, she sits on the coffee table next to the couch. “Hey,” she says softly, reaching out to trace a hand over Karin’s cheek, and that’s when she finally turns to look.

“Hey,” says Karin, softly. She forces herself to sit up, swinging her legs over the side of the couch, and stares at her knees. “I’m… I’m twenty six, yeah?” Ino nods – they celebrated it together, after all. “My mom… she was twenty five when she died, Ino. I’m older than my Mom ever got to be.”

Yamanaka Inoichi had died at the age of forty-two, still much older than Ino has reached and may ever reach, considering their dangerous profession – but Karin’s mom had died at twenty five. Naruto’s had died at twenty four, and considering how melancholy he was last year, how much time Karin had spent with him, Ino realizes he probably felt the same.

“I’m sorry,” Ino says softly.

“She was so young,” Karin says, shaking her head. “She- She was younger than me, and she gave up so- so much of her life for _me,_ and-“

Ino holds her girlfriend while she cries, and wonders if she’ll be the same at forty-three.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!
> 
> you can find me on tumblr as 'ftcoye', where i take drabble prompts.


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